The Case of
by Sincere Disappearance
Summary: During a World meeting, a tray of scones leads to so much more...  Several pairings, bizzare words and historical thingies!   a country  OC.


Chapter 1

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><p>"We're still in crisis here, so I think we should just let them handle it themselves, why do we even have to get involved?" Alfred slouched in his chair. The meeting was getting more and more boring as it went on, he was glad that they were having a break earlier than they normally would have. He never like meetings; he was tempted to skip this one as much as all the rest, but he knew someone would chase him up and he'd be punished for it later.<p>

"If they could solve it by themselves, it wouldn't have turned into our problem now, would it? If you're such a hero, why aren't you out there putting an end to it yourself?" Arthur glared across the table.

"Hey, even the Hero has to take breaks!" Alfred spat back, the rest of the comment going right over his head. He took another bite from the burger in his hand and having half finished it, reached for another from the table before the two of them.

"We're having a break right now, this is the only break a hero should need. We'll be back in the meeting in a about half an hour anyway. If you're not prepared to solve the world's problems, you're not prepared to be a country either. I never doubted you Alfred, but sometimes you aren't the sharpest tool in the shed."

"...So? I can be a country without your bitching, I've been doing that for years." Alfred smirked at the even darker glare he was getting. Pissing off Arthur was one of the sweet pleasures of his almost-immortal life that he couldn't do without.

"Onhonhonhon, mon amis, this is a rather loud discussion we're having. Sexual tensions building up, non?" Francis grinned as he stepped between the two of them, taking the chair to Alfred's right.

"..._Francis,_" Arthur growled. "What do you want now, froggy? Take yourself and your absurd assumptions somewhere else."

"Ooh~. Want to be alone now, do we? Fine, fine. I'll be leaving now." He brushed a hand through Arthur and Alfred's hair before retreating to a seat further away and continuing to spy. Arthur released a sigh of relief and turned back to Alfred.

"I'll have you know, British gentlemen do not _'bitch'_. I though I raised you better than to use words like that." Alfred ignored the comment and instead stuffed the remainder of his burger into his mouth. He reached for another one whilst still looking at Arthur.

"Yeah? I could've raised myself as easily as I raise my flag." Alfred shoved the food into his mouth, but gagged when he did. "Ack, gross, what the hell!" He spat the food out onto the floor and stared at the offending meal in his hand._ A scone_. "Oh, sick! Ew, this is terrible, what did you do to my burgers!" Arthur seemed taken aback. As if Alfred hadn't seen him standing there right in front of him. He hadn't moved and Alfred was watching him the whole time. "Did you curse them or something!"

"I didn't do anything, I haven't even moved!"

"Then what the hell happened?"

"You probably just took it off of the wrong plate. Pay attention to what you're doing. There's all sorts of food here you could mistake for your oh-so-precious burgers, just-"

Arthur had just noticed, but there were no scones left. The one Alfred had picked up was the last one? But that never – _never_ – happened. _Never. _Arthur would always take them home and eat them himself afterwards. It had become a habit. Recently, he'd only brought them for show because he knew full well no one wanted to touch them... But then who...?

"Alfred, did you see anyone...?"

"Anyone who?" Alfred was now happily chewing on another burger after realising the plates had just been switched. "Ah, it's a great thing I thought to bring a huge supply of these. Man, what would happen if I ran out... I'd have the taste of your terrible cooking in my mouth for days!"

"My cooking isn't that bad!" Arthur shrunk a little. As much as he hated to admit it, his cooking really wasn't the best; most people preferred Yao's. "But apparently, someone liked it enough to take the whole plate." Alfred almost spat out his burger before bursting into laughter.

"You actually believe somebody would survive eating your cooking? Man, that person must be mental." Alfred took another bite. Arthur was standing in front of him with his hand on his chin in deep thought. _'Somebody?... It's true that there aren't many people who can stomach my food...that only leaves a few suspects. Francis! He was watching us this whole time, him and his damn shamelessness, he should know.'_

"Alfred, I'll be back."

"Half an hour, dude!" Alfred returned to eating his burger and slouching in his chair. Arthur just tsked and headed towards Francis, who was being as blatant as always.

"Ohonhon, Angleterre. Have you and Ameriqué fallen out?"

"No, that's not it, frog. I have a question for you."

"Ah, why the seriousness, Angleterre?"

"...It's about my scones."

"Oh! Zat is serious... I did see someone before. A rather scruffy, petit strawberry did come by here. I saw him go in zat direction." Francis pointed to his right. It lead down a corridor that Arthur wasn't too familiar with.

"Um, thanks." Arthur followed the direction. The hallway looked rather empty and made the building look fairly bland and plain. Roderich wasn't one to spend money on unnecessary decorations, especially if he didn't use the area much. He couldn't help but wonder who would venture off randomly in Roderich's house. There were doors everywhere, but Arthur bet half of the rooms were never used.

"..Ow!" Arthur's head snapped up. Who was that? It came from in front of him and he was too far away to hear anyone in the break room... Was that the culprit?

"..Hello?" Arthur called out. He heard a few bangs follow, but no reply came. "Hello? Is there someone down there?"

"...No?" Arthur's eyes widened. Apparently, whoever it was didn't want to be found. Arthur picked up his pace and headed towards the room he presumed the sounds were coming from. What he saw...wasn't what he expected. At all.

Arthur felt something brush against his leg. He jumped back slightly and looked down to find... a cat. With no tail. That could only mean...

"D-...Douglas?" Arthur looked up again and met a pair of deep blue eyes. For a moment, all he could do was stare. "..What are you...?"

"..Oh, fastyr mie, Arthur. I haven't seen you in a long time, how've you been?" Douglas was sat with a plate on top of crossed legs. He was sat on the table in the middle of what appeared to be an unused dining room. "Here, Illiam." He held out a small piece of food at which at cat jumped up on the table and took into it's paws. The cat gave a satisfied 'mew' before taking the food into it's mouth.

"Are you feeding it my scones?" Arthur questioned with a defeated tone. Turned out his food wasn't good enough for people after all.

"Not all of them. Some of them are mine..." Douglas said, getting defensive.

"What are you doing here, anyway? This is a world meeting, last time I heard, you weren't involved in world affairs."

"..." Douglas averted his eyes with a blush growing on his face. "...I'm not here for world affairs. That's _your _job." He took a strand of his crimson red hair and wrapped it around his finger. "...I was just hungry is all."

"...So, you're here for the scones... You came all the way here just for the scones? What about your own food?"

"I wanted something different. I was in the mood for your cooking. I don't have it often because you're always around that mong."

"...Mong?... Alfred?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"..Huh?" Douglas turned back to Arthur. "Sorry, what?"

"I'm always around Alfred...?"

"Yeah. Lots more these days. It's getting harder and harder to tear you away from him. You were never this clingy with me or Peter..."

"That's different-"

"How so?" Douglas shot him a curious glance. "Me and Peter are closer than you think. We've been talking a lot more recently. No one recognises him as a country and barely any of them know I exist. The point is, me and Pete-"

"ARTHUR~" An obnoxious voice rang in the hallway completely distracting the blonde. "Are you here, dude? It's time to go back to the meeting! Francis told me you came this way! Arthur?"

"Damn it. Stay here." Arthur turned to leave but he wasn't quick enough and crashed straight into the person entering the room.

"Oh, dude, hey! There you are- Who's this?" Alfred looked at Douglas closely. He had a baggy, yellow hoodie draped over his shoulders with the hood covering his bright red hair. He was hard to miss considering the room was painted white.

"...Oh, he's-"

"You never saw me. I'll be leaving now Arthur, I got what I came for. I'll be with Pete if you need me." Douglas motioned for the cat to follow him. "Lets go, Illy." And left the room. Alfred stood for a few seconds without realising that Arthur was behind him.

"Ow.."

"Oh! Dude, what are you doing on the floor?"

"...Never you mind. Lets go." Arthur brushed the dirt off of his uniform, flattened down his hair and started off down the hall.

"Whatever, dude... Hey, did that cat not have a tail?"

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><p>"You saw Arthur?" Peter exclaimed. "That jerk. I though you were going to stay away from other countries because they don't know about you?"<p>

"I was, but they wont find out about me, simply because _he_ wont tell them I exist. Even if I asked him to tell them, I doubt he would."

"Why?" The smaller boy asked, whilst kicking his dangling legs to and fro. "The world knows about me, but they wont acknowledge me. Stupid jerks."

"They can't acknowledge something if they don't know it exists. I'm not acknowledged either..." Douglas sighed. Peter wasn't acknowledged because he was too small, but there was nothing wrong with his size. Why was it that they didn't notice him?

"If you tried, I'm sure someone would accept you," Peter giggled. "Because you meet all the requirements. There's nothing that says you're not a country. And you're under the queen's rule too. The stupid jerk has to acknowledge you. I know she doesn't do much for you, but it doesn't make much difference."

"I guess." Douglas stood up and stared off into the horizon beyond the old fort, letting the cat that was sitting on his knees jump off first. "But I like it here. And you're smart for your size." Douglas gave Peter a pat on the back. "I'll always acknowledge you regardless of what Arthur thinks."

"Hmm, I wonder what it's like to be a big country..."

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><p>"That's it! I've had it with all this arguing! You will all sit down and refrain from speaking without permission. Any unnecessary questions shall go unanswered and you will each have a set time for speaking. No shouting, no whispering and raise your hand when you want to speak." Ludwig boomed over the chatter. The room went quiet and everyone froze in their seats. "Danke." Ludwig said, before returning to his own seat. Almost reluctantly, Alfred's hand rose into the air. He glanced towards the German hopefully, who in return nodded with a hand to his forehead.<p>

"So, Arthur, who was that kid?" Alfred asked all too enthusiastically for said man. "You never gave me an answer." Arthur's expression turned panicked.

"..That was- No, well he...He was..."

"Ah, Angleterre, is there someone you're keeping a secret?" Francis purred. Arthur turned to look at him with a confused and lost look.

"Sounds suspicious, da?"

"Quite, aru."

"Vee~ Arthur, you have secrets? You can tell me, I wont tell anyone."

"Itary, prease respect Igirisu-san's privacy. We have no right to force it out of him."

"I agree with Japan, Lets drop this issue and get on with more important things" Roderich intervened.

"Si, but Ingleterra, it's not good to have secrets. You can tell us anything, we're here for you. That's what these meetings are for, no?"

"Tch, You have no idea what you're on about, you tomato bastard. These meetings are for World Affairs. _WORLD."_

"But Romano, Inghilterra _is_ part of the world."

"Italy, England's personal problems are not ours to solve." Arthur turned to Ludwig with a pleading look. Ludwig sighed with a hand still on his forehead and pushed himself off the table. "We're getting off topic everyone. This is a meeting to solve problems, not create more. England, are you going to answer the question or not? If you aren't, quit wasting time, if you are, make it quick."

Arthur shook his head and shrank back into his chair.

"Very well, we shall continue, does anybody have any relevant questions-" Ludwig had barely finished his sentence when another hand shot into the air. "Ja, Frankriech?"

"Angleterre, would this happen to have something to do with the petit strawberry I saw earlier?" Arthur's attention was stolen yet again as he looked up from the floor to the Frenchman.

"Could you please drop the issue, Francis? It's nothing important so let it go." Arthur folded his arms into his chest. "I don't want to waste any more time on this. Germany, please carry on."

"I believe we shall have to end this meeting here if everyone is too distracted. Are none of you concerned about the real issue here?"

"Gomenasai, Germany-san. Everybody's minds seem to have strayed from the original issue here." Kiku folded his hands in his lap.

"I disagree, but hey, if it gets us out earlier, I'm all for it!" Alfred grinned widely and jumped at the chance to head for the exit.

"Urgh, Alfred calm down. There's no point getting excited, we'll have to resume first thing tomorrow." Arthur hated his enthusiasm sometimes. It was hard to keep up with a person who was a lot happier and laid back than him because he just didn't see the world in the same way. "We'll be back here so you're not allowed to return home. You might as well book a hotel for the night."

"Nah, I'm gonna go. You guys don't need the hero here every single time, hero's have other things to attend to. I'll be heading home now!~"

"You bloody well wont! Not even if I have to keep you restrained. You will keep up with your work like the rest of us here. If you care so much about who he was, I'll bring him with me next time and introduce you, but if you're going to skip out on your duties, then don't expect you two to become acquainted!" Arthur shouted, unaware of all the eyes in the room being on him.

"..Did I miss something?" A sleepy eyed Hercules spoke up from his seat around the oversized table.

"Not really." Vash replied, uninterested in what was truly going on.

"Like, nothing is totally happening. Just some arguments." Feliks intervened.

"Hmm, maybe we should just leave..?" Toris said, not that anyone was actually listening. With the whole room bursting into conversation, Ludwig, Feliciano and Kiku left their chairs and removed themselves from the room as quietly as they possibly could. Felinciano didn't make it easy either. After the Axis left, the neutrals went too followed by the Baltics, Nordics... and Ivan, who wasn't surprised to see two girls milling about outside waiting for him.

Arthur was quite pleased with the decreasing volume in the room, that is until a hand landed on his shoulder.

"So, dude, really? You'll bring him back?" Arthur's eye twitched. Really? _Really?_ Of all the countries, he just had to be one of the last ones. He wouldn't have minded so much if Alfred _didn't mind_ so much. Over the years, sometimes he was more trouble than he was worth.

"Yes, I'll bring him back. Didn't you say you were leaving?" Arthur shook the hand off and stood from his chair, all ready to leave for his hotel.

"Leaving so soon, England?" Roderich pitched in just as he hit the doorway.

"It seems as though everyone else is. I suppose I should go too, thank you for having us."

"Oh, no problem. Though I'm not sure who everyone was talking about today..."

"Yes, well I didn't intend for it to become something international. Haha." Arthur said calmly before continuing out of the doorway. Yao, Francis, Antonio and Romano just watched as he left.

"Well, that was...interesting, aru. I wonder who this 'boy' is...?"

"Mm, I had no idea Ingleterra had another brother."

"How do you know it's his brother? Stop assuming things and lets leave already." Romano said, already halfway out of the room. Antonio tagged along.

"Oui, I shall be taking my leave too. Au revouir, mon amis." Francis blew them a kiss and too disappeared out of sight. The room went silent and the only sound to be heard was a the small exasperations coming from a sleeping Hercules in the corner.

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><p>"-Then it rises like a vision, sparkling bright it shines for me-" Douglas stopped his soft murmuring when he heard footsteps coming towards him. "Oh, Arthur... Kys t'ou?"<p>

"Um, I'm doing well. I came to ask you something..." Arthur hesitated. He wasn't supposed to be away from his hotel, but he did say he'd introduce him to everyone. "You see... I... want to bring you with me tomorrow." Douglas shuffled over and Arthur sat beside him.

"...Why..?"

"... I said something stupid."

"What would that be?" Douglas asked, primarily to get a reaction, but he couldn't lie about being curious. Arthur never needed him for these sort of things, he'd always have everything thought out. Even when he didn't, it was as if his work did itself.

"Aha, well you see, Alfred saw you."

"I know. I saw him too. He still doesn't know about me, right?" Douglas started picking at the grass below his knees, bunching it into his hands and throwing it to the wind.

"That's the thing. I...sort of said I'd introduce you to him... And everyone else." Douglas' head spun towards Arthur and his most recent grass ball hit him right in the face.

"You did what!" Douglas scrambled to his feet. "Why.. I thought you wanted to keep me a secret. You bought me into your family, and you didn't want anyone knowing. It's not like you did anything to cover that up but... Er, yeah... That's cool, I guess." Arthur eyed him suspiciously. Douglas had been in his family for a long time and it was true that he hadn't tried to cover up the fact that he had another younger brother. No one asked, so he'd never told them. They didn't have to know if they didn't notice. Besides, if they didn't notice, they just weren't paying enough attention. The isle had been there for centuries.

"So, you'll come?" Arthur's eyes lit up.

"I suppose...But I'm not going alone." Douglas sat back down again and took his knees into his arms.

"Why not?" Arthur asked with genuine concern.

"They wont take me seriously." Douglas met Arthur's gaze. "You know how they treat Peter."

"Peter "He's just a child. You're older and you're big enough. You have everything you need. We've already proven you're a country."

"But what if-"

"No what-ifs." Arthur stopped him with a raised hand. "If you really have to, bring Peter with you. I know that will make you more comfortable. Peter and you have known each other the longest, he'll give you more confidence. He has too much of his own." Arthur seethed. "Just don't let him near any of the other countries."

"So, tomorrow then? What do I say?" Douglas started fiddling with the arms on his hoodie, pulling them up and pushing them down again.

"Don't worry about that, I'll handle the introductions."

"What if they don't like me?"

"I honestly can't see that happening. I see nothing wrong with you."

"You're blind to a lot of things, though." Douglas mumbled to himself. "Never mind, just come and get me in the morning. I'm not going to prepare a speech or anything so...yeah."

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><p>"Awesome has arrived!" A loud voice came from the hallway. Roderich chose to ignore it because he knew full well who it was.<p>

"You're late." Roderich finally spoke as the loud persona reached the room. "Everybody has already left."

"Yeah, I can see that now..." The voice came again from behind him, sounding disappointed. "Why do I always miss the meetings?... Wait, it's your fault, stop telling me the wrong times!"

"...You're not a country, I doubt you'd be of any help." Roderich turned around and found Gilbert standing with crossed arms and a scowl on his face. He sighed, walked over to the window and gazed out of it. "There's plenty of other countries who don't come to the meetings because they're not invited. Be thankful that I even gave you the right date."

"Just because I'm not a country doesn't mean I _wasn't _one. One that, might I add, was more awesome than yours." Gilbert retorted. Roderich sighed and massaged his temples. He'd already sat through one headache today, he didn't want another one.

"You might as well just leave, the meeting is over."

"Can I at least know what going on around here?" Gilbert said, sounding somewhat deflated. He still existed and he was still around. That had to count for something. He was still a big brother to the person who now inhabited his lands. He was still a brother to a country, and he liked to think he still mattered, if not to everyone then at least he would matter to his brother. He straightened his back when he heard a sigh from Roderich's direction.

"Fine. I'll tell you. The meeting was completely pointless. Everybody ended up being distracted by the hamburger-eating moron. Apparently there's a new nation about and there is nothing that he wants to do more than meeting it."

"... A new nation... New nation? New nation... I see." Gilbert fiddled around with his coat before pulling his belt tighter around his waist. "Do I get to me them!" A huge smile sprung upon his face.

"...No stopping you now I guess." Roderich mumbled before hearing footsteps from the hallway. Soon enough, the footsteps were accompanied by a voice.

"I smell a rat!" Gilbert froze. He knew that voice...and he never liked hearing it when it had _that_ tone. He dreaded looking behind him. He didn't need to anyway because the owner of the voice stepped right in front of him, one hand on her hip and the other clutching a rather large frying pan. "What are you doing here?"

"Aah...Came for the meeting, I ended up missing it. Oh, look at the time, I gotta run. Auf Wiedersehen!" Gilbert than removed himself from the room at an extremely unnecessary and speedy pace.

"Thank you." Roderich turned to find Elizaveta grinning up to her ears proudly. She loved scaring Gilbert. And Roderich loved getting rid of him. It was a win-win situation with her around.

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><p>"One more thing." Douglas paused, staring out to the ocean from the hotel window. After their previous conversation, Arthur had insisted on taking him to Austria that night. He'd ended up having to stay with Arthur for the night, and they would travel the rest of the way to Roderich's in the morning.<p>

"What's that?" Douglas perked his head up as Arthur made his way into the room, throwing the towel he'd just finished using on to his bed.

"You're not seriously considering wearing _that_ to the meeting, are you?" Arthur pointed to where Douglas had deposited his clothes in a less-than-neat pile at the end of his bed.

"...There's nothing wrong with my clothes... And I didn't bring much else." Douglas retorted defensively.

"It's not so much your clothes, they just aren't formal enough. We don't want you looking like a fool when you're being introduced." Arthur sat down on his bed and ruffled his damp hair, pushing the longer strands out of his eyes and behind his ears. "Don't you own anything that looks..."

"Tidier? Neater? Less scruffy? Intelligent? Expensive? Regal? Styli-"

"Normal." Arthur interrupted. Douglas scowled._ 'Normal? My clothes don't look that different to everyone else's...Peter wears a sailor suit all the time and nobody's ever complained, is that what they consider normal?'_

"Look, Douglas, I didn't mean to offend you I just don't want you walking in there like you've made a half-arsed effort."

"Okay I get it," Douglas sighed "I'll take another look but I'm not promising anything." He stood up and dragged his suitcase out from under the bed, brushing off a spider that had tried to crawl up his arm. Douglas handed the suitcase to Arthur who opened it and started to rummage around inside. He pulled out an old brownish military jacket and a matching pair of trousers.

"What about these?" Arthur asked carefully, making sure he didn't hit a nerve in the younger nation.

Douglas eyed the garments scrutinizingly before slowly nodding his head in agreement, "So, this one then?" he asked still looking at the clothes

"Douglas we don't have time to argue, please just wear it."

"No, no, it's not that I don't necessarily like it, I just don't ever remember owning it...so, um yeah...awkward" Douglas finished, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He had no problem with wearing it. Why a military uniform, though? He hadn't seen anybody in one... Then again, he hadn't seen many people. Tomorrow would be a change of scene and a change of...well life. People might finally start to acknowledge his existence.

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><p><strong>AN**

**Okay, so if you haven't noticed already, this is a fic to introduce a new nation into Hetalia. Any guesses on who it is yet? I'm pretty sure you can get it from all the 'clues' that are in this chapter. **

**There will be some picture of the OC up on Deviant, so if you want to see how he looks, then have a look at them. The links will be on my profile page. **

**This story is written by me and my sister, it's a joint effort! So will the pictures be. **

**Any feedbacks? ;D**

**In advance, sorry for any OOCness. This is our first Hetalia fic... D:**

**The title will come into it in a few chapters. (:  
><strong>


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